System of electrical transmission of power



(No Model.) A 2 Sheetssheet 1. C. J. VAN DBPOELB.

SYSTEM 0E ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION 0E POWER. No. 440,7@ Patented Nov. 18,1890.

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C. J. VAN DEPOELE. SYSTEMioE ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION 0E POWER. No.440,976. Patented Nov. 1-8, 1890.

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CHARLES J. VAN DEPOELE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SYSTEM OF ELECTRlCAL TRANSMISSION OF POWER.`

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 440,976, dated November18, 1890.

Application filed May 10, 1886. Serial No. 201,714. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. VAN DE- POELE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Systems ofElectrical Transmission of Power, of which the following is adescription.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in theutilization of electricity as a motive power, whereby an electric motorcan be converted into a generator, and the current then produced therebybe added to the main current of the line from which the current is takento run the system. This can be accomplished by the means hereinafterdescribed, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part ofthis speciiication, in Which- Figure 1 is a View in elevation of anelectro-dynamic motor err1lo itlying` my invention. Fig. 2 is a diagramof the circuits and connections thereof. Fig. 3 is a view in elevationshowing a portion of an electric railway, including a down-grade. FigJiis a theoretical diagram showing the arrangement when two or more motorsare used on one train. Fig. 5 is a theoretical diagram showing thearrangement oi' one motor on a train, the remainder of the cars beingprovided with electro-dynamic brakes.

Similar letters and figures indicate like parts throughout.

The motor-generator here illustrated is of the type shown and describedin my former application, No. 195,2 l2,tiled March 15, 1886,

now Patent No. 347,902, in which A is the fieldniagnet core, upon Whichis Wound the ordinary conductorB and also the supplementary conductor C,which latter is, as shown, in series with the main helices B, andprovided with a number of terminals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, S, 9, 10, 11,12, and 13, which, by means ot' a moving contact-arm D, can be throwninto or cut out of the field-magnet circuit, and thereby increase ordecrease its magnetiziu g eect, as fully set forth in said previousapplication. Y

E is a stationary com mutator for the segments e, to which the terminals1 to 13 are connected.

F is the armature. G is the commutator therefor, and g g are thecommut-ator-brushes bearing thereon and permanently connected to theconductors P N, connected to the main line, which in the case of anelectric railway may be, as shown in Fig. 3, an insulated wire for thepositive and the rails for the negative.

By moving the arm D from right to left, or vice versa, more or less ofthe supplementary coils are brought into or out of circuit, and thus thestrength of the magnetic Iield can be varied. By changing the power ofthe field of force within which the armature revolves the electro-motiveand the counter-electromotive forces of the machine can be varied- Viz.,the electro-motive force when used as a generator and thecounter-electromotor force when used as a motor.

.The herein-described method of operation is illustrated in Fig. 3, IIrepresenting the track of a railway, upon which is a train consisting ofthe cars I J K, which are shown as descending a downwardly-inclinedportion thereof. L is the generator, located at any suitable point andconnected by Wire 1 with lthe track I-l, and by wire 2 with an overheadconductor P. A motor-generator Mis placed upon the forward car I, and isconnected by suitable contact device t' to the overhead conductor P',which represents the positive side of the circuit, its other terminalbeing connected through the wheels of the car I with the track H, whichforms the negative conductor. i

In order to better understand the action of the machine, I will describeit first as a motor. Admitting that the currentintended to operate thesystem will have an electromotive torce of one thousand volts and thatthe maximum speed of the motor will be, say, twelve hundred revolutionsper minute, and that this allows a current of, say, ten ampres to iowthrough the motor-that is, when the current is iiowing only through themain helices of the field-magnetsdif now some of the auxiliary coils areplaced in circuit the resistance of the motor will correspondinglyincrease, and also the magnetism in the field-magnets. At the same timea higher counter electro-motive force will be produced by the motor,keeping back the current from 'the mainline IOO 2 44eme orfeeding-circuit, which will result in slowing down the speed ot themotor, so that when all the auxiliary coils are in circuit the motorwill run at its slowest speed, and by making the auxiliary coils more orless resistant the intensity oi current flowing through the motor can bevaried at will.

By means of the auxiliar-y coils placed in series with the normal ormain Iield coils we are enabled to govern the counter electro-motiveforce of the motor, and thus regulate its speed, at the same timeregulating the amount ot current supplied to the motor. By allowing thecurrent to flow through more or less of the additional helices of the`field-magnet we are enabled to modify the strength of the field offorce in which the armature revolves, and thus regulate the action ofthe armature upon the field.

I will now proceed to explain the machine as a generator-that is, whenthe motor after being driven by a proper source of electricity is cutoli therefrom and forcibly rotated, as by the momentum of movingmachinery or any other cause-'for instance, in an electric railway whenthe train moves down an ineline and thus communicates motion to themotor.

The conditions under which the dilterent results are obtained arebriefly as follows: Admittin g that the main line from which the motorreceives current is kept at a nearly constant potential of, say, onethousand volts, it will be easy to understand that it our motor, run asa generator, produces an electromotive force of exactly one thousandvolts, that then the current produced by the motor will be added to thatof the main line, and this will continue to be the case as long as themotor is capable of keeping up an electro-motive force equal to that ofthe main line. This, however, cannot be accomplished with an ordinarymotor or generator, since the speedof the moving train or machinerycannot be kept constant, and in the case of an electric railway willvary from its highest speed to adead stop. Il-owever, by mymethod it ispossible and perfectly practical to add to the main line the currentcapable of being produced by a moving electric generator driven by atrain descending a grade and coming from full motion to a stop.

As already explained in the case of an electromotor, the auxiliary coilsafford a means of changing the counter electronnotive force, enabling meto run either 'fast or slow with out changing the electrounotive torceor potential of the main current, this being accomplished by placingadditional coils around the normal field-coils of the eleetromotor; andit is by the same means that in the case ot an electric generator or themotor used as a gener ator that I accomplish the result of adding thecurrent from the generator to the main line. To illustrate the methodthe better, let us consider an electric generator driven by a traindescending an incline at a speed, say,

of twelve hundred revolutions per minute, and that when a motor, now agenerator, is running at this speed it produces one thousand volts, asbefore stated, and that the generator can produce this electro-motiveforce having only its normal field-coil in series with the armature. Nowas long as the speed ot twelve hundred revolutions per minute remainsconstant the electro motive force will remain constant; but since thisis impossible and impracticable we have to devise some other means toproduce a constant electro-motive force within a moderately-varyingrange of speed. In order to produce the desired effect, all we have todo is to add some auxiliary coils to the normal coils of the fieldmagnetas the speed decreases, until when all the coils are in circuit and thespeed of the train has fallen so low as to render the machine incapableof producing the needed electro-motive force, at which point thegeneration of current is stopped by the whole machine being cut out ofcircuit. As has already been noted, by adding the auxiliary coils to thenormal or main coils I augment the electro-motive torce of the machine,so that with a lower than the maximum speed I am enabled to keep up thedesired electromotive force to a certain point. It the machine remainsin circuit after its electro-motive force drops below that of the line,it will be reconverted into a motor, the currentiiow ing` now through itin opposite directions from what it-did at iirst, the current coming nowfrom main line to motor, instead of from gen erator to main line. Y

A centrifugal circuit-closer, similar in principle to that shown anddescribed in my patent, No. 257,990, dated May 1G, 1882, may be employedto automatically control the circuit or circuits of the auxiliary coils,although other devices may also be utilized.

The main advantage to be derived from this system is that part of thepower capable of being created by the lowering down of a load-aa forinstance, in retarding the speed of -a railway-train running down aninclinewhich force, as well as the momentum of any other kind of load,can be utilized to drive an electric generator of the kind described,which I have called a momentum-generator, the current thus obtained,which would otherwise be represented by wasted power 01 friction on thebrakes, being` added to the IOO IIO

mains or distributing-conductors, the mea chanical eilect of driving themomentum-gell` erator being also available as a counteracting eitect. y

lVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isM

In a system of electrica-l transmission ot power, the combination, in anelectric railway, of a supply-circuit extending along the line andcarrying current of substantially constant potential, a motor-car makinga traveling contact with the supply-circuit, a momentu11i-generator uponthe car and in cirstrength thereof to enable the machine to del livercurrent of a potential equal to that of the line, and means, also, forreversing the position of the commutator-brushes to change the machinefrom a motor, when not performing Work, to a momentum-generator actuatedby the momentum of the vehicle, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my signature in presence of twoWitnesses.

CHARLES J. VAN DEPOELE.

Witnesses:

JAMEs T. ROBERTS, v JOSEPH A. GABBNEY.

